"Today Our attention is directed to one of the most common of them (abuses), one of the most difficult to eradicate, and the existence of which is sometimes to be deplored in places where everything else is deserving of the highest praise; the beauty and sumptuousness of the temple, the splendor and the accurate performance of the ceremonies, the attendance of the clergy, the gravity and piety of the officiating ministers. Such is the abuse affecting sacred chant and music."- St. Pius X, Pope

Thursday, 13 March 2008

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Requiescat in Pace

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Mosul (AsiaNews) - The Chaldean archbishop of Mosul is dead.

Archbishop FarajRahho was kidnapped last February 29 after the Stations of the Cross. His kidnappers gave word of his death, indicating to the mediators where they could recover the body of the 67-year-old prelate. "It is a heavy Cross for our Church, ahead of Easter", the Bishop Rabban of Arbil tells AsiaNews in response to the news. Leaders of the Chaldean Church, including Bishop ShlemonWarduni, brought the body to the hospital in Mosul to ascertain the causes, still unknown, of the archbishop's death. The funeral will be held tomorrow in the nearby city of Karamles. Archbishop Rahho will be buried near Fr Ragheed, his priest and secretary killed by a terrorist brigade on June 3, 2007, while leaving the church after celebrating Mass.

The archbishop had been very sick. He had suffered a heart attack a few years ago, and since then he had needed to take medication every day. The difficult negotiations for his release carried forward over the past 14 days of his kidnapping had immediately raised concern because of the total absence of direct contact with the hostage. The conditions posed by the kidnappers - sources in Mosul tell AsiaNews - in addition to an outrageous ransom on the order of millions of dollars, had also included the provision of weapons and the liberation of Arab prisoners held in Kurdish prisons.

The news of Archbishop Rahho's death "profoundly wounds and saddens" the pope, says the director of the Vatican press office, Fr Federico Lombardi. Benedict XVI hopes that "this tragic event may renew once again and with greater force the efforts of all, and in particular of the international community, for the pacification of this greatly tormented country". Three times in recent days, the pope had launched an appeal for the liberation of the bishop. Numerous Muslim leaders had also spoken out for the release of the archbishop, both Sunnis and Shiites, in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, and also condemned the action as "contrary to Islam".

Kyrieeleison, Christeeleision, Kyrieeleison.

The first video below is of the Archbishop's funeral and the second is the funeral of Father RagheedGhanni, murdered last year at the same church in Mosul, Holy Spirit. Father Ghanniwasthe Archbishop's secretary. The singing on the video is a hymn to Our Most Blessed Mother and the Mother of Christ, the Theotokos, the God-bearer and Mother of God; it is sung by the same Father Ghanni. Archbishop Rahho can be seen celebrating the funeral rite. The people of Iraq have sufferred much. The Catholics in Iraq of the Chaldean Rite are the oldest indigenous Christian community in the world. They suffer along with the Catholics in Palestine at the hands of the Islamo-Fascists. Where has the outcry been in the west about this abhorrent event? Why has it not been promulgated in the secular media? When will we all learn? How long, O LORD? Tarry not LORD Jesus Christ. SalvatorMundi, come and rescue your people! At this time let us turn to God to pray for an end to the suffering of our Catholic brethren. May we also learn by their own faithful suffering how to bear the tribulation that will soon come our way. Let us pray that these two new martyrs will intercede for us to the Father.

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St. Pius X

"...the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer. [...] Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators: they are traditionalists."